Top civil servant summoned by MPs over increasing costs of Rwanda plan

Published

2 years ago

December 8, 2023

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The Home Office’s most senior civil servant has been summoned to give evidence to a committee of MPs on Monday after he revealed the cost of the government’s Rwanda plan had risen by £100m – despite no planes having taken off.

Ministers signed the deal with the African nation in 2022, with the aim of deporting asylum seekers to the country if they came to the UK via illegal means – such as small boat Channel crossings.

But while the price tag for the scheme had been set at £140m, another £100m has been paid to the Rwanda government since, with a further £50m due to be paid out later in the year.

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There has been furious reaction from opposition parties, with Labour dubbing it a “total farce”.

However, Downing Street has insisted the original agreement stated the deal “involves subsequent funding”.

And Home Office minister Lord Sharpe told peers it was “good value for money”, saying it equated to the cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels for 30 days.

The new figure came to light after requests from both the Public Accounts Committee and the Home Affairs Committee for more detail from the Home Office permanent secretary, Sir Matthew Rycroft, after he appeared in front of them in recent weeks.

In a letter to the committee chairs, Sir Matthew said it had now been “agreed” by ministers to disclose the numbers, with the £100m paid in April and the £50m still to come.

In an angry response, the two chairs – Labour MPs Dame Meg Hiller and Dame Diana Johnson – accused the civil servant of an “extreme lack of respect” for committees, adding that they “would have expected more transparency” from him in his previous appearances and saw “no reason” for having avoided the topic.

As well as demanding Sir Matthew appeared in front of them on Monday, the chairs said they now wanted to see quarterly updates on the funding for the scheme going forward.

A row has also broken out over who signed off the additional cash – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak or his now former home secretary, Suella Braverman.

Downing Street said it was Ms Braverman who gave the payment the green light. However, friends close to the ex-minister insisted it was approved by Mr Sunak himself.

This latest controversy over the much troubled policy came just hours after the prime minister vowed to “finish the job” of reviving the Rwanda plan – despite the prospect of a bitter parliamentary battle.

The government unveiled new legislation on Wednesday to address the problems cited by the Supreme Court when it ruled the scheme unlawful last month.

The bill compels UK judges to treat Rwanda as a safe country for asylum seekers, and disapplies some aspects of the Human Rights Act in an attempt to appeals against deportations.

However, some of the right of the Conservative Party – including former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who resigned his post in protest – believe the legislation doesn’t go far enough.

They instead want the government to disregard the entire Human Rights Act, as well as include extra powers to dismiss challenges under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

The new law will be voted on next Tuesday. But with opposition parties already vowing to vote against it and less than 30 Tory rebels needed to kill the bill off, it could be a tough battle for Mr Sunak.

UK

Jon Ruben remanded into custody on child cruelty charges after children fell ill at summer camp

Published

2 hours ago

August 2, 2025

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Jon Ruben remanded into custody on child cruelty charges after children fell ill at summer camp

A man has been remanded into custody charged with child cruelty offences after allegedly lacing sweets with sedatives.

Jon Ruben, 76, of Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court on Saturday after youngsters fell ill at a summer camp in Stathern, Leicestershire.

He has been charged with three counts of wilfully assaulting, ill-treating, neglecting, abandoning or exposing children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to health.

The charges relate to three boys at the camp between 25-29 July.

Ruben spoke only to confirm his name, age and address.

Police received a report of children feeling unwell at a camp being held at Stathern Lodge, near Melton in Leicestershire, last Sunday.

Officers said paramedics attended the scene and eight boys – aged between eight and 11 – were taken to hospital as a precaution, as was an adult. They have since been discharged.

Police said the “owners and operators of Stathern Lodge are independent from those people who use or hire the lodge and are not connected to the incident”.

Leicestershire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, after officers initially reported the incident as having happened on Monday, only to later amend it to Sunday.

It is still unclear when officers responded and whether that is why the watchdog referral has been made.

Ruben will next appear at Leicester Crown Court on 29 August.

UK

‘This shouldn’t have happened’: Bishop who interrupted church choir in dressing gown apologises

Published

12 hours ago

August 2, 2025

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'This shouldn't have happened': Bishop who interrupted church choir in dressing gown apologises

A bishop who interrupted a church concert in his dressing gown – and told singers to “leave his house” – has formally apologised to the choir.

Jonathan Baker was filmed standing barefoot at a microphone as he criticised performers for making a “terrible racket” at St Andrew’s Church in central London.

Addressing the City Academy Voices choir directly, the bishop of Fulham said: “I write to apologise for the distress and offence I caused in bringing the concert to a premature end.

“This should not have happened … I also apologise for remarks which were made in haste, and which have understandably caused hurt and distress.”

Mr Baker had demanded for the performance to stop because it was 10pm – and says he didn’t realise the choir had booked the church until 11pm.

In the statement obtained by Sky News, he added: “I have lived here on site at St Andrew’s for 10 years, for much of which City Academy has rehearsed and performed here.

“You have been, and continue to be, welcome – and I hope that you will be able to continue the relationship with us.

“I can give you every assurance that the events of Friday evening will not recur, and I apologise again to performers (especially those unable to perform at the end of the evening) and the audience alike.”

The choir was performing to a 300-strong audience in Holborn when the lights were suddenly turned off, with Mr Baker declaring the concert was “over”.

A church employee then asked the crowd to leave quietly and for the musicians to step down from the stage, attracting boos from the audience.

The choir went on to perform one last song, an A cappella version of ABBA’s Dancing Queen, before bringing their show to a close.

One member of the audience, who was attending with his 10-year-old daughter, told Sky News he initially thought the interruption was a staged joke.

Benedict Collins had told Sky News: “This work deserves respect, not to be disparaged as a ‘terrible racket’. The people here had put their heart and soul into it.

“The bishop cut them off in midstream, preventing soloists who had worked their hardest from singing – and preventing the audience, which included people of all ages, from enjoying it to the end.”

The choir told Sky News it was “upsetting” that they were unable to finish their show as planned, but “hold no hard feelings and wish the bishop well”.

A spokesperson added: “If anyone is thinking of joining one of our choirs, the City Academy Voices rehearse on Mondays in central London. Dressing gowns optional.”

UK

X criticises Online Safety Act – and warns it’s putting free speech in the UK at risk

Published

12 hours ago

August 2, 2025

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X criticises Online Safety Act - and warns it's putting free speech in the UK at risk

The Online Safety Act is putting free speech at risk and needs significant adjustments, Elon Musk’s social network X has warned.

New rules that came into force last week require platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X – as well as sites hosting pornography – to bring in measures to prove that someone using them is over the age of 18.

The Online Safety Act requires sites to protect children and to remove illegal content, but critics have said that the rules have been implemented too broadly, resulting in the censorship of legal content.

X has warned the act’s laudable intentions were “at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach”.

It said: “When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of ‘online safety’.

“It is fair to ask if UK citizens were equally aware of the trade-off being made.”

X claims the timetable for platforms to meet mandatory measures had been unnecessarily tight – and despite complying, sites still faced threats of enforcement and fines, “encouraging over-censorship”.

“A balanced approach is the only way to protect individual liberties, encourage innovation and safeguard children. It’s safe to say that significant changes must take place to achieve these objectives in the UK,” it said.

A UK government spokesperson said it is “demonstrably false” that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech.

“As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression,” they added.

Users have complained about age checks that require personal data to be uploaded to access sites that show pornography, and 468,000 people have already signed a petition asking for the new law to be repealed.

In response to the petition, the government said it had “no plans” to reverse the Online Safety Act.

Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage likened the new rules to “state suppression of genuine free speech” and said his party would ditch the regulations.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said on Tuesday that those who wanted to overturn the act were “on the side of predators” – to which Mr Farage demanded an apology, calling Mr Kyle’s comments “absolutely disgusting”.

Regulator Ofcom said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into how four companies – that collectively run 34 pornography sites – are complying with new age-check requirements.

These companies – 8579 LLC, AVS Group Ltd, Kick Online Entertainment S.A. and Trendio Ltd – run dozens of sites, and collectively have more than nine million unique monthly UK visitors, the internet watchdog said.

The regulator said it prioritised the companies based on the risk of harm posed by the services they operated and their user numbers.

It adds to the 11 investigations already in progress into 4chan, as well as an unnamed online suicide forum, seven file-sharing services, and two adult websites.

Ofcom said it expects to make further enforcement announcements in the coming months.